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Originally shared by Alan The Cat

Timeline of miracles

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Marla Caldwell said…
“There are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is a miracle; you can live as if everything is a miracle.” (Albert Einstein)
Miracles happen every day. Just because we have scientific explanations for many of them does not make them any less miraculous.
April 29, 2013 at 9:47 AM
James Fletcher said…
Yea actually an explanation does in fact make something less miraculous.  Einstein's quote here is to emphasize the importance of education so you do not think everything is magic.
April 29, 2013 at 10:02 AM
Marla Caldwell said…
James Fletcher we'll have to agree to disagree. I don't "magic = things without explanation" any more than I believe "miracle = thing without explanation." To me, miracles are all around, like monarch butterflies' inherited memory that directs generations of butterflies that have never been to Mexico exactly how to get to their home forest, or salmon returning home to spawn, or an absurdly heavy airplane staying aloft, or the famed blind Polish painter who uses perspective in his art.
April 29, 2013 at 10:10 AM
James Fletcher said…
Marla Caldwell Just to be clear then, if you do not understand something its a miracle?   Or does everyone have to not understand it?  How is that not making ignorance the standard for a miracle?  Any reasonable person knows for instance how a heavy plane stays aloft.  By what stretch of the imagination can that be construed as a miracle?  Awesome?  Yes!!  Miracle?  No.

A miracle is an event not ascribable to human power or the laws of nature and consequently attributed to a supernatural, especially divine, agency.   This is the rub:
either you believe in the supernatural and then when faced with something beyond your understanding you call it a miracle or you do not believe in the supernatural and you simply say you do not know.  

Are we using the word miracle differently?
April 29, 2013 at 10:34 AM
Marla Caldwell said…
James Fletcher no, it has nothing to do with my not understanding it. I don't even know where you got that from what I said. I differ from your dictionary definition of miracle in that I view essentially anything extraordinary, "awesome" (your word), amazing and a net positive as a miracle. While it may involve the "supernatural," that's probably not the same as your definition for that, either.

I believe the supernatural is simply the natural that is beyond our current understanding and/or perception and/or measurement, such as the extra dimensions quantum physicists tell us exist but that we can't directly experience with our current limitations. Per Clarke, "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Whether you choose to label that as science and/or divine or believe it requires conscious agency is up to your belief system.
April 29, 2013 at 11:07 AM
Calvin Phuong said…
So is there a new word that you have for "miracle". Since anything can be a "miracle"?

Basically, what word would you reserve for an event not ascribable to human power or the laws of nature since "miracle" has a another meaning.

Back on topic: That graphic is hilarious. One could probably make one that correlated digital video and police brutality
April 29, 2013 at 12:26 PM
Marla Caldwell said…
Calvin Phuong I'm neither the first nor last to use "miracle" in this way. As far as what word I'd reserve for an event not ascribable to the laws of nature including those we haven't learned yet, why would I have need of such a word?
April 29, 2013 at 12:53 PM
Calvin Phuong said…
Marla Caldwell Because, otherwise, how would one distinguish between your use of miracle and the other?

I've come across those that use the word for mundane occurrences, but I have always ascribed that to hyperbole.
April 29, 2013 at 1:42 PM
Marla Caldwell said…
Calvin Phuong the same way we distinguish between uses of other words that have more than one connotation or dictionary entry, I suppose. I don't really see all that much need for precise distinction between whether someone saying "It was a miracle the Red Sox won the World Series" meant it was amazing to them or so out of the ordinary it must have required divine intervention. Either way, they're expressing amazement and appreciation, regardless of whether they believe there was divine agency involved.
April 29, 2013 at 2:59 PM
Calvin Phuong said…
Marla Caldwell "It was a miracle the Red Sox won the World Series" is hyperbole. This image deals with claims of 
events not ascribable to human power or the laws of nature.

You can claim that the Red Sox won the World Series all you want. It either happened or it didn't.

You can't claim " I saw Jesus dancing in a double rainbow in my backyard " within the window between the advent of digital photography until Photoshop was invented because it didn't happen.

And now, people can go back to claiming all the ridiculous crap they want with Photoshop's help.
April 29, 2013 at 3:06 PM
Marla Caldwell said…
Calvin Phuong That's an unfounded belief on your part that the speaker intended hyperbole. He or she may perfectly well believe that the Sox winning required divine assistance and you don't know any differently without asking. Anyone can claim perfectly ordinary but false crap with the help of Photoshop too, or miraculous only in context ("Tony got a date? No way!"). Photoshop makes falsifying infinite possibilities easier.
April 29, 2013 at 5:59 PM
Calvin Phuong said…
And that's the point of this graphic. Photoshop is helping miracles make a comeback.

Thanks for getting the joke. My job is done!  #timetogohome
April 29, 2013 at 6:01 PM
Marla Caldwell said…
The real joke is on anyone ignorant enough to believe it was difficult to forge images before Photoshop. LOL
April 29, 2013 at 7:20 PM
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